Albeniz and Chopin, Hector Sanchez - piano

Hello everyone, and happy new year 2008!!
I hope everyone's holidays were full of joy and love... and some nice Christmas sweets
I just returned myself from a trip to Slovaquia, where I spent new year's eve, with the batteries completely recharged.
So, to start off the year, here are a couple of recordings, as always made during live performances (so please forgive the couple of wrong notes here and there...), of Albeniz's "La Vega", and Chopin's Mazurka Op.50 n.3. Both pieces were recorded during a concert in NY in 2002.
I hope you enjoy them!
All the best,
Hector Sanchez

Chopin Mazurka in C sharp minor, Op. 50 no. 3

Albeniz - La Vega

 

Ooh, La Vega... I have always wanted to hear that. Too bad I can't download mp3's here at work :x Guess I'll have to wait - unless you'd care to mail a copy to cbreemer@hotmail.com...

 

Hola Hector!

Excelent, like always. I hope you're fine; say hello to Galina from me.

I especially loved the mazurka.

Ahmed

 

Ah, La Vega.... If only he had written more of them we could call them Las Vegas :lol:
I was so taken with it that I almost forgot to listen to the Mazurka.

Whan an extraordinary piece this is. Its colossal scope reminds one of Beethoven's Hammerklavier or the Dukas Sonata, and its ambition and sheer difficulty seem to transcend even the Iberia. It's marked as part one an an "Alhambra Suite" but I think that suite was projected but never materialized. I feel that Albeniz, had he lived to complete all of them, maybe would have bundled Navarra, La Vega, and Azulejos into a 5th book of Iberia. That would have been fitting. Now, we'll have to put La Vega in a Miscellaneous page as it does not fit anywhere else. Actually it is worth a page of its own, if we can find some text and perhaps an image to go with it.

Your playing of La Vega leaves nothing to be wished to my ears - though I had never heard it before, it sounds perfect. Larrocha would surely be proud of you (were you a pupil of hers ?).

The Mazurka, one of my favourites, is beautifully done too - though I found the middle section just a little tame - isn't this marked gaio or something ? Surprisingly, I heard one or two small slips here, whereas I did not detect any in La Vega (with score at hand). The applause at the end seemed rather luke warm... did they not appreciate it or were there just few people ?

 

I think this is one of the first mazurkas that I ever fell in love with. The beginning reminds me of Bach a bit, and the ending is just divine. And there's a bit of that Bach-ish counterpoint throughout, except for in the typically mazurkish sections. I also detected a slip, in the middle mazurkish section...a chord that should have changed, and did not (no score to hand). Seems like it might have been a reading error rather than a slip.

I'll listen to the other one later. Not that you're waiting breathlessly for me to critique it or anything. :lol:

 

Hector,

La vega fue una cosa de rara hermosura. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks for post.

 

I took me some time before I had the chance to listen to these quality recordings, because that it is the least you can name them. Truly wonderful and sensitive playing and I kept the Albeniz recording running at least 5 times now when making food to the kids. Of course I have heard the Chopin mazurka many many times but the Albeniz La Vega has mysteriously escaped me and I am truly grateful for introducing me into this wonderful piece of music! Your playing is amazingly well prepared too and I could almost not resist to fall into the applause when finished.

 

The performance of the Albéniz work is spell-binding. A great piece with a pianist to match! It prompted me to buy the sheet music (Henle edition) last week and start the (long and ambitious) job of learning it... it will be a big project but well worth it. Once past the reading issues (seven flats and a whole host of accidentals, at one point modulating to B double-flat major[1]), the sequential nature of much of the writing starts to make a lot of sense, but there are of course quite a few corners of technical difficulty which will keep me busy for a long while yet as I get to know this piece.

Thanks again for sharing this, and for the inspiration as well!

Michael B.
[1] At this point Albéniz bites the bullet and notates the same phrase (when it repeats) as A major and then moves to D major... although E double-flat major wouldn't have surprised me at that point!

 

i've been listening to La Vega for quite a long time in the last weeks. really a wonderful piece, outstandingly played. thanks a lot!
bye Mr Duffy

 

thanks to Mr. Sanchez AND to Mr. Duffy

What a magical recording the Albeniz is! A million thanks to Mr. Sanchez for posting this and congratulations on achieving such a performance.

I'd also like to thank Mr. Duffy for posting a reply so belatedly. I had missed this recording while wandering around the Spanish composers on the site and his post led me to the recording.